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Safety is paramount!

As part of a planned expansion of strategically located branded hotels in key UK cities, Dominvs Hospitality have acquired a landmark site in Aberdeen. In a prime situation, the hotel will stand a mere 100m from Aberdeen International Airport terminal.
The hotel site will be developed into two separate hotels, a 193 bedroom 3-star partnered by a 165 bedroom 4-star Crowne Plaza, with bar, restaurant and conference facilities.

The hotels will be located adjacent to Aberdeen International Airport, which offers flights to 48 national and international destinations connecting with key international hubs at Heathrow, Amsterdam and Paris.

The cranes are the Saez 60B, the higher of the 2 being 42 meter high with a jib length of 45 meters.

My Visit

As a general rule I donâ€™t do â€˜High Placesâ€™; itâ€™s not that Iâ€™m scared of heights, far from it, itâ€™s just they are usually a busmanâ€™s holiday to me. However after ending up being stuck in a hotel in Aberdeen for a few days and having these as the view out of my hotel room I decided it was going to be a far cheaper night out climbing one of the cranes rather than drinking rather expensive beer in the hotel bar on my own again.

As a high place goes a crane should be a fairly simple vantage point to reach; get onto the site and reach the base of the crane without being caught, bypass whatever security measures have been put in place to stop people climbing it and after that you have the nice caged ladders and platforms all the way which the usually fat crane driver climbs each day to reach his cab.

The worst which could happen if caught I thought was a stern ticking off, well thatâ€™s in Englandshire and with Scotland having no trespass laws I always thought being caught wouldnâ€™t be an issue up here. That was until someone who posted on here was caught up a crane a couple of years ago and spent the full weekend at the police station, after a few visits to court she was finally convicted with Breach of the Peace. I didnâ€™t relish the thought of these options as I had a flight to catch myself; the close proximity to the airport was a worry. After a few minutes contemplation I thought what the hell, itâ€™s better than sat in a hotel bar drinking overpriced beer.

Off I headed to reach the base of the crane, and after reading all the relevant safety signs and conducting my onsite induction I headed on up.

The first 20 meters were fine, shrouded by the nearby buildings under construction; but once above that I suddenly became aware how visible I was to anyone in the neighbouring approach roads, car parks, airport terminal and hotels could see aloft. Sat on a platform I could see a couple of people looking out the windows and a few cars pulled in to the car parks without anyone getting out, the sensible option was to sit it out, take in the view and get a couple of photos. Retrospectively Iâ€™d probably started the climb a little early.

Here are a couple of the photos I took while enjoying the view and the planes taxing.

I was just about to move on up again when plane load of people were discharged from the terminal building to the waiting taxis, car parks and hotels, so laid low which was a good job as airport security passed at about the same time. Another 10 minutes and things had quietened down so I headed up to just below the jib and peered into the crane cab.

The jib was only another 3 or 4 meter above and would have given cracking views over the surrounding area if it hadnâ€™t been such a misty night. An enjoyable half hour was spent up here watching the world pass by below and again a few more photos.

Well that was me enjoying the high life Aberdeen had to offer, time to bail. Just I was level with the crane cab the sound of sirens and blue flashing lights appeared from the airport approach road, I was trying to work out if I could make it down the crane and off site before I had to answer some awkward questions, but to my relief the fire engine continued straight on to the industrial estate.

I entered the hotel with a big smile on my face and enjoyed my first expensive pint enough to buy another before retreating to my room and enjoying the view again while flicking through my photos.